This invention relates to the field of snowplows having a moldboard or contoured scraping wall member to scrape or push snow forward and to one side, and in particular to a wide snowplow of this type having separately mounted sections in side-by-side relationship whereby each section can rise and fall independently of the sections on either side. Thus all sections can remain in scraping contact with the surface on which they are being used, even though some portions of that surface may be elevated relative to adjacent portions.
Snowplows having a single unitary moldboard or scraping wall member have been known to the prior art for a long time. One of the biggest problems with snowplows of this type is that a rise in the surface level in contact with one portion of the scraping edge of the unitary moldboard automatically causes the entire unitary moldboard to rise thereby raising the scraping edge of the remainder of the moldboard above the surface beneath such remaining portions, thereby failing to remove the snow from those portions. The present invention solves that problem by providing a wide snowplow of the moldboard type with independently movable sections whereby one section can rise or fall depending on the contour of the surface on which it is being used without causing the sections on either side to rise or fall. Thus, all sections can remain in continuous scraping contact with the surface on which the snowplow is being used even though adjacent portions of that surface may rise and fall relative to each other. Prior art of which the inventor is aware include the disclosures set forth in the following United States Patents, copies of which are readily available to the public and others having a need to know or an interest in the subject matter, in the United States Patent and Trademark Office as well as in public libraries in a number of cities throughout the United States and elsewhere:
A sectional snowplow of the type having a laterally extending moldboard or scraping bearing wall member, having a plurality of independently mounted sections in side by side relationship which can each rise and fall relative to, and independently of, those sections on either side. The advantage of this invention and improvement over the prior art is that all sections of the laterally extending sectional moldboard remain in continuous scraping contact with the surface below, even though portions of the surface may become elevated relative to laterally adjacent portions as the snowplow is moved forward. Snow can thus be removed from each portion of an airport runway or from each portion of a parking lot by a single pass. Repeated passes of the snowplow over the same surface areas can therefore be avoided.